I've written short essays before, but nothing of this scale. I've developed most of the ideas, fleshed them out, written rough explanations, etc. I know roughly how everything will string together. But I'm feeling kinda stuck and overwhelmed with the task before me, of assembling everything together, knowing where to put what, concerned whether I'll over-explain or repeat myself, etc etc.
One particular problem I'm experiencing is that, while I know and remember all the points I'm trying to make, I feel like I've kinda "lost touch" with some of them, like I'm just robotically piecing ideas together. It's hard to explain, but I hope that makes some sense.
Obviously, I'll probably figure out some of these things as I go, but it'd be nice to hear how others have navigated big complex (non-fiction) writing projects like this.
So, writers of long-form non-fiction (or non-fiction book writers even): What's your process for navigating all this?
Thanks!
Create paragraphs - Build a paragraph based on the quote
Create chapters - Build chapter based on the paragraph
Validate chapters - Find references that validate your: Quotes, paragraphs, chapters.
All writing shouldn’t go the same direction. It only appears that way. Finish your chapter, then travel back through it, citing the length-only.
Once you have length, split it into length-by-idea, and now you’re measuring in another dimension. Keep all ideas the same length, to be completely professional. Good luck!
- Work with a good editor (or 3)
- Get honest feedback from others
- The best way of proofreading your own writing is to read it out loud like you were reading to a small child (if you can read it out loud and backwards, that's even better)